Women's Clothing Sizes

[Ms. Jill]

Here is a question I'm not even sure a gg knows the answer to. Why do women's sizes vary so greatly between manufacturers, and why do some have numbered sizes and others are marked s,m,l, xl,etc.? I have gotten burned many times buying a particular size (One that I normally wear), only to get it home and find out I can't close the zipper. I figured out that I wore a 12 dress back in the seventies. I have fluctuated between a 12 and 14 ever since. How come one manufacturers 12 is another ones 16?

When I shop for my male drab clothes, I'm pretty confident that the size I buy will fit, even if I don't try it on first. Also the male sizes are pretty consistant from brand to brand so if I buy levis with a specific waist and inseam today and dockers with the same waist and inseam tomorrow, both will fit equally as well. But if I buy a dress from liz claiborne and one from talbots, both the same size, it's a crapshoot, and I'm not a very good gambler.

Luv and Hugs Jill

[Virginia]

I agree, there is no rhyme or reason for it but it seems that it is designed by some manufacturers to play on a woman's ego. Take jeans for instance, I have heard that what used to be a 4 by the same manufacturer is the same but now they call it a 2, and the 2 = a 0. This is so that the girl who wears a two can claim to wear a "0" - plays to the ego! Or the diet fad, "well I must have lost weight because I can now fit into a 6 where before I wore a 10!" and the truth be known the cut, style, fit and actual amount of waist line that is now a "6" if laid out side by side would be the same as a 10!!! Anything to sell stuff.

If you saw the website that Lane Bryant uses, as do most internet sales sites, they all have a sizing chart, ie, "if your bust is __ your waist is __ and your hips are ___ then you are a _____ in a Woman size or ___ in petite or ____ in a junior, etc. They can be helpful!!!!

What I do is try the stuff on before I buy it.

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping!!!!!

Shop on, girls!

Virginia

[Absaroka]

Iusually have to try mens clothes on first also. Especially pants.

Absaroka

[Janet Bern]

I finally gave up on buying without trying on anything. It isnt worth the hasstle of bring home, trying on, taking back. Almost any shop I have visited has seen so many CDs that when you tell them "It's for me" they are more than happy to let you try on what ever you want to try on.
I usually do it more than 20 miles from my home. Janet

[Curly(SO)]

I agree, there is no rhyme or reason for it but it seems that it is designed by some manufacturers to play on a woman's ego. Take jeans for instance, I have heard that what used to be a 4 by the same manufacturer is the same but now they call it a 2, and the 2 = a 0. This is so that the girl who wears a two can claim to wear a "0" - plays to the ego! Or the diet fad, "well I must have lost weight because I can now fit into a 6 where before I wore a 10!" and the truth be known the cut, style, fit and actual amount of waist line that is now a "6" if laid out side by side would be the same as a 10!!! Anything to sell stuff.

Virginia

Exactly the same thing has happened here also. I know this is true because I wear the same size as I did when I was sixteen but am now about 20lb heavier. (on a diet as we speak...just kidding myself that the donut I just ate was calorie free because Ed bought it for me )
The Manufacturers have done this as an ego massage...'Hey I wear the same size as when I was sixteen!!!' to make us all feel better re. this ridiculous media obsession with size. Our sizes are bigger over here...i.e a U.S size zero is a UK 4, a size that didn't exist when I was younger, but still all we hear about is 'size 0' in the media

The sizes still vary from shop to shop...if a shop is aimed towards the younger end of the market the sizes seem to be less generous. More generous for the older market, again, to protect our 'delicate self-esteem' Really, I don't need to be 'fooled' like this, I can use the scales and look in a mirror to see what size I really am! I can handle it...!

Love,
Curly

[Ann Stef]

Style and type of material are the reasons for variations in # sizes. The S-M-L-XL letters usuyally refer to stretch knits that can stretch out to larger sizes. I found jacket & skirt sizes slightly larger in # size for me. A form fitting dress was too tight for the same # size.